When thinking about creativity and creative people we often think of artists, musicians, or inventors. But really, when you get right down to it, we are ALL creative beings. Merriam-Webster defines creative as ‘the ability or power to create’, and create as ‘to bring into existence something new’ and ‘to produce through imaginative skill’. Everyone from the boardroom to the maintenance room has the ability to create something new through imaginative skill at work and at home.

Children do this instinctively. Given an empty box, a child will create a whole new world, a new mode of transportation, a home for imaginary animals, or quiet place for contemplation.

French sculpture, painter, and pioneer of modern art, Henri Matisse defined creative people with these words:

As writers, illustrators, publishers, and more we are well aware of the power of imagination and the creative souls of individuals. We make it our business to provide, enhance, nurture, model, and shape new ideas.

Today, I’m taking Matisse’s words to heart. Working on a new story idea, I need to be all these things (and more).

Too Much Glue written by Jason Lefebvre and illustrated by Zac Retz (2013)

Matty is a creative genius when it comes to glue. He and his dad love to make glue creations at home, with mom’s approval of course. But at school, his teacher warns about using too much glue. In class Matty decides to make the biggest glue puddle ever and lay in it. He gets yarn, plastic bricks, goggly eyes, and colorful paper stuck to himself. The problem is that he can’t get up, he’s stuck to the worktable! The more his friends try to release him, the more decorations he gets stuck to himself. Neither the teacher nor the principal can unstick him. Finally, his dad comes in and saves the day. Dad pries him off the table and congratulates him on making a masterpiece. Dad takes him home and unpeels the glue from his body and re-glues it together in the kitchen. They take a magnet and stick it on the back of the Matty-shaped masterpiece and hang it on the refrigerator. Taking the principal’s suggestion seriously, Matty and his parents experiment with tape after dinner… oh no!

Jason Lefebvre has written his first picture book and glue masterpiece. Although I wonder if he has ever been an art teacher, I bet he was once a kid like Matty! His creativity and over-the-top antics make a hilarious picture book. It’s certainly a story that will ‘stick with you’… ba da dum!

Zac Retz captures the spirit of Matty and glue-lovers everywhere. The illustrations are so real, you might be afraid to touch the pages for fear of sticking everything together into one globby glue mess.

I love this story, but I would hide the glue bottles from anyone who has read it! What a crazy, hysterical, post-reading disaster this could be! Share at your own risk!(Did I emphasize this enough with unnecessary exclamation marks?)

Going Places written and illustrated by Peter and Paul Reynolds (2014)

It’s time for the annual Going Places contest and Rafael was determined to win. Each student was given a kit to build a go-cart with instructions inside. But Rafael’s friend Maya was not one to follow directions like everyone else. Maya had her own ideas. And together Rafael and Maya build much more than a go-cart, they build a go-cart with wings! Despite a little teasing from the other kids who have all built the exact same replica of the go-cart on the box, Rafael and Maya take off and soon zoom over their friends’ heads, landing far in front of them and roll past the finish line in first place. The crowd cheers, but instead of waiting for their prize Rafael and Maya are already thinking of modifications to their go-cart to make a frog-jumping under-water swimming machine.

Peter and Paul Reynolds are twin brothers who credit their 10th grade social studies teacher who dared them to have original ideas. Together, like Rafael and Maya, they dared to be different and wrote a story about friendship and original thinking.

Paul Reynolds illustrated the book with precision to detail and with creativity, the perfect blend for the story.

I enjoyed reading the story and watching the transformation of thought from being identical to being unique. It makes me wonder how much the authors are identical and unique at the same time. But what I really liked about the story is the journey from the desire to win the race to the desire to be creative. I liked that the book did not end with prizes and ribbons, balloons and streamers, high-fives and fist-bumps. I like that it ended with the prospect of another project. The reward is actually the process and the dream. Way to go!

My critique group met this morning. I shared something brand new and totally different from what I normally write. It kinda went over like a baloney sandwich at a banquet. It started out okay. It had a funny ending. But the middle was missing something. It just didn’t work. That’s not to say that the whole thing needed to be pitched, there were just some problems to address. So we focused on what worked. We talked about how to move from the initial concept to a desirable product.

So I went home with some sound advice and a plan. I knew where the strengths were and I knew what I wanted. The first thing I did was reread the original story with new eyes and the words of my critique partners ringing in my ears. Then I put it down, did some laundry, fed the dogs, read a new picture book, and worked on my blog. All the while, this was stewing in my head. I hadn’t planned on working on it today, I was going to let it simmer for a few days. That was the plan until … wham! It rushed at me full force. I opened my computer and started revising. I finished it in less than an hour. And now I want to gather my group back together and scream, “Look at this! I’ve got it!” but I have to wait two more weeks to see them. Oh well, maybe in that time, I’ll find something else to change. If not I’ll start on my next project.